Would you do this to keep heating costs down?

[crosses]

I saw this woman is putting up blankets to separate rooms to save on energy costs. It's not very pretty. I wonder how much it will work. Would you go this far to save on heating? She goes to a lot of trouble, but I also wonder why she doesn't put curtains over her windows?

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[cercis]

I would and have done so. But, I also put curtains over my windows first (except I would open the curtains if the sun was hitting that window).

I didn't have central heat, so I hung a blanket over the two doorways out of the main room (with the heater). We just lived in there. About an hour before bed, I'd turn on space heaters in the bedrooms to get them warmer.

I don't know how much it saved us, but I do know that that room was a lot warmer than the curtained off rooms. I could keep it 65-70 while the other rooms were much closer to the outside temps.

And, it doesn't have to be blankets. We had to paint a room in our house and needed to use spray paint (we had some exposed wallpaper or something which ran when it got wet, so we first sprayed spraypaint to coat it). We hung the very thin plastic over the archway into the room. Once again, it was a home without central heat and that room was one without a heater. It was sooo cold in there, just with that little thin plastic blocking the heat.

[flash]

Yes, I would. My mother used to cut down cardboard boxes to fit the windows. Now of course there are double pane windows, honeycomb shades, etc., but they all work on the same principle. Add a layer of insulation to windows or put up barriers to block drafts. Many people just close the vent and the doors to rooms they aren't using.

[joeswife]

id do it. i also seal the back door, seal the windows with tape, and vent my dryer into the house.

im an extream example according to my mom tho.

ericka

[PrincessPerky]

No but I don't have any rooms I don't use....

Maybe if I were desperate I would stop using them to avoid having to heat them.

Of course I do have a blanket on my livingroom window, keeps the cold out better than a thin curtain, I want a thick insulated curtain, but I honestly don't know what color I want, silly reason to keep waiting isn't it!

[katwoman]

No, I wouldn't do this either unless my circumstances were extreme.

Instead I'd ask, why is the house so drafty? Poor insulation, old thermostats, old furnace, no weatherstripping, old windows?

We replaced all the old glass blocks windows in our 4 flat. It is no longer cold in the hallways or the bathrooms. These areas used to oooze heat. I won't know until next summer but I'm willing to bet we'll recoup the cost in 2 years!

Now to replace all the thermostats. Our old ones have mercury and the heating guy said these go bad over time. The new ones don't have mercury. Now I know why when I set the thermostat to 72 or below I get NO heat!

[cercis]

Princess, you would have thought we didn't have any rooms we didn't use. The whole house was only 840sqft.

We had a floor furnace. It was terribly inefficient at heating any rooms outside of the main room and yet the main room couldn't stay warm for trying to heat the rest of the house (we had new windows and the whole house had new vinyl siding with the insulation they put there in addition to the original insulation, plus we added insulation to the roof).

I found that the kids and I could survive in the front room (about 20x10) and have it nice and toasty and just ignore the rest of the house (the two bedrooms and the kitchen). We kept a space heater in the bathroom and it could heat up really quickly, so you could turn it on and by the time you had your pants down, it would be blowing warm air at you. I would move that heater into the hall way to heat the bedrooms about an hour before bed.

[PrincessPerky]

well, I am spolied I guess, the heat is pretty much everywhere cept the one bedroom a couple degrees cooler than the house. I will think about taking a room out though.

[gakline]

My mom has done this and I would too if needed. She has a second floor that they don't use (all the vents and doors are closed) But the hallway is nice and open. So she hung a curtain rod and curtains to cut off that area some more. It works very well.

[Luv2shop]

My old house was very drafty. I would cover the windows with plastic. It worked well. My gas bill now is anywhere from $250-$325 a month. I am in a row house. I am not looking forward to this years bills

[fultron]

I use the plastic window covers from home depot and they work pretty well...you put 2-sided tape around the window frame and then stick the plastic to it. You then use a hair-dryer and it works like shrink wrap nice and tight. It's see-through and lets in light, but keeps out cold drafts.

[cercis]

Wow, L2S, that's high.

My total combined utility bill (gas and electric) was always less than $200. I think gas is cheaper in OK (they pump it there).

Another thing I found that was good for heating the house was cooking a big pot of soup or beans. I'd cook beans almost every day, we'd mash what we didn't eat for refried beans and stick those in the freezer for summer burritoes, etc.

[cicy33]

Originally Posted by joeswife

id do it. i also seal the back door, seal the windows with tape, and vent my dryer into the house.

im an extream example according to my mom tho.

ericka

I have heard that venting your dryer into your house is actually dangerous. but I am not sure if that is factual. Something about the area where the lint and heat comes out and it is facing a wall. I do know that once my hose broke and I had lint EVERYWHERE. We have considered venting it under the house to add warmth to the floors. Anyone ever done that?

[cercis]

You need to buy a special vent that catches the lint and empty it regularly. Actually, even if it is vented outside, you need to clean the vent and tube regularly. It can be a fire hazard.

And if it is a gas dryer, leave it be. Don't vent it inside.

[shelbylovesmelby]

I don't know if hanging sheets ect up helps keep energy costs down but a friend of mine when she lived in a mobile home they cut off the kitchen that way & you could feel the difference between the kitchen & living room. we did that last year on a northern window, because of the north winds being so awful & having a window a/c unit that was sealed in. Otherwise no one would/could sit there w/out a chill

we still need to get the plastic up on the big window. The joys of an older "fixer upper" & a single income, updating takes a while. Unless we win the lottery or something

Cercis - now if you could get that thru my dh's head to clean that vent tube out!

[shelbylovesmelby]

oh btw I forgot to mention my gas/elec bill also is over $300 a mo in winter! wich is why I line dry as much as I can in the basement in winter, a $ saved is a $ that can be spent on something else.

Our basment is the warmest room in the house besides the bathroom. *L*

I too am afraid to see how much our bill is!

[Jason]

I currently have a blanket that seperates our family room from the rest of the house. We have a fireplace in the family room and when we use it we take down the blanket to help heat the rest of the house.

[chrysnblue]

I have done that a few times, but weatherstripping and blocking the drafts helps tons. Do both and it might make a difference. I couldn't imagine paying over $300 for heating! Gas does it every time.

[acezz4e_tish]

i think in this case, i would invest in drapery rods and use heavy drapes in the winter. for easy open in the daytime for the natural heat and light from the sun, closed at night for energy conserving. the rods prolly ten dollars wtih the track so you can slide it open and closed at walmart. you can pick up some cheap drapes too even at thrift shops. or make some by adding trim to heavy blankets to make them look like curtains. i have double, double panes. my expense actually would be my outlets. this is something i need to work on.lol

[Ima saver]

I have central heat and central air and my house is well insulated. (My husband believes in insulation, we can't even hear it rain outside) I do not ever run the heat upstairs and I keep the heat downstairs set at 60-61 and wear two sweaters every day. My little dog gets cold, so I have a heating pad on her chair for her to lay on!!